


Bad Dreams

by nepenthe_writer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 22:20:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18882382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nepenthe_writer/pseuds/nepenthe_writer
Summary: When a nightmare haunts Bucky's dreams, there is only one place that can give him the comfort that he needs.





	Bad Dreams

The hallways was cold and dank as Bucky hurried his way down it. He was in the middle of a Hydra base and he had to keep moving or the Hydra agents were going to catch up with him. Bucky wanted to be just about anywhere but here but he couldn't leave just yet. Tony was somewhere in the base and there was no way that Bucky was leaving without him. He just had to make sure that he found Tony before the Hydra agents did.

It was just supposed to be an easy reconnaissance mission but their presence had been detected. That shouldn't have been possible given Tony's level of security but it had happened nonetheless. Somehow in the resulting chaos they had gotten separated and Bucky was nearly frantic with worry as he tried to find Tony.

Every door that Bucky came across was nearly ripped off of its hinges as he yanked it open to check and see if Tony was on the other side. He couldn’t leave without the other man. He just couldn’t. He had to find him before Hydra did. Who knew what Hydra would do to Tony if Bucky didn’t find him first?

Scratch that. Bucky knew exactly what Hydra would do since he had been the unwilling puppet of theirs for seventy years. There was no way that he could leave Tony to that fate. Bucky would rather die first.

The longer he searched the more frantic he became. Every corner was turned sharply with less and less care as to whether there was an enemy soldier waiting on the other side. The only thing that mattered that was going through Bucky’s mind at that point was finding Tony and making sure that he was safe.

The longer Bucky searched the more he got turned around in the maze that was the Hydra base. The longer Bucky searched the more certain he became that Hydra had already found Tony and were doing evil experiments on him like that had on the soldier. The longer Bucky searched the more adrenaline pumped through his veins, his heart pounding in fear, the certain deep seeded knowledge that he had failed to protect the man that he loved.

With a gasp Bucky sat up straight in bed, gun already in hand pointed outward, as he looked around the room unseeingly as he tried to calm his frantic heartbeat and understand what was going on and how he had gotten from the Hydra base to his bedroom in the blink of an eye. Several long seconds passed until Bucky was able to come back to himself and push away the Winter Soldier instincts that were trying to force their way to the surface.

He was safe in his bed in the Avengers Tower in the middle of New York City. He wasn’t in the middle of a Hydra base. He hadn’t lost Tony and failed to protect him. Tony was safe and sound in his own bed on his own floor. Right?

“Jarvis,” Bucky’s voice came out more shakey than he’s like to admit. “Where’s Tony right now.”

“Sir is asleep in his bed at the moment Sergeant Barnes. He has been there for the past five hours,” Jarvis replied immediately.

“And no one’s gotten into the tower that shouldn’t be in here right?” Bucky asked, needing to know that Hydra hadn’t snuck in, that his family, that Tony, was still safe.

“There have been no security breaches,” confirmed the AI.

Bucky nodded his head absently. “Okay. Thanks Jarvis.”

Laying back down again, Bucky slid the gun under his pillow where it would be within quick reach and closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep. The only thing that managed to accomplish was to let images of the never ending hallway float through his mind making his anxiety build back up again.

The longer Bucky laid there in bed the more his mind ran over the images from his dream. His inability to find Tony and make sure that he was safe had his fear rearing its ugly head again. He tried reminding himself that the tower was one of the most fortified places that there was and Jarvis had told him Tony was safe in his own bed. None of that helped to soothe Bucky though.

All he could think about was how devious Hydra was and the resources that they had at their disposal. How did he know, laying here in his own bed, that Hydra hadn’t somehow hacked into Jarvis and was at this very moment sneaking into Tony’s room to do him harm? Yes Tony was Iron Man but even he had his limits, especially in the time it would take for his suit to get to him. Those few moment could be all that Hydra needed to kidnap or kill Tony and Bucky wasn’t there to protect him.

Flinging the blankets off of himself Bucky grabbed the gun from under his pillow and made his way out of his room. He knew logically that he was being over paranoid but logic was taking a back seat to emotions right now and emotions were screaming at him that he needed to get to Tony and make sure that the man that he loved was safe and sound.

Bypassing the elevator entirely, Bucky headed straight for the stairs knowing that he could get up them faster with the right motivation and Tony’s safety was more than enough. His bare feet slapped down on each step as he climbed the few floors that separated him from his boyfriend’s floor.

It worried Bucky slightly how easily the door to Tony's floor opened for him but he chalked that up to Jarvis clearing the way for him. Besides, anything that helped him get to Tony faster wasn't something that he planned on complaining about anytime soon. Bucky's eyes darted around the dark room checking every shadow for signs of a hidden intruder as he made his way through Tony's floor to his bedroom.

Keeping his back to the wall so that nothing could sneak up on him, Bucky carefully twisted the doorknob and pushed it open a crack looking into the room for anything immediately out of place. Seeing nothing that would have him on full alert Bucky kept opening the door enough so that he could step inside the bedroom and look around.

Nothing was out of place. It was quiet and dark just the way that Tony liked it when he slept. The faint amount of light coming through the windows was just enough for Bucky’s enhanced vision to make out the lump on the left side of the bed that rose and fell with each easy breath that Tony took.

The sight of Tony laying in bed sleeping easily loosened the knot that had formed in Bucky’s chest in a way that Jarvis’s reassurances just couldn’t. It was one thing to hear that the man that he loved was safe and another to see it with his own two eyes.

Standing there in the doorway Bucky soaked up the sight before him and tried to will himself to close the door and go back down to his own floor and his own bed. He knew that Tony was safe now and there was no reason for him to stay here. Despite that knowledge Bucky couldn’t seem to get his feet to move. He was rooted to the spot as though the moment that he let Tony leave his sight he would be back in danger again.

Bucky stood there long enough that it pinged something in Tony’s subconscious and the once sleeping man began to stir, looking around for what it was that had pulled him from his dreams. Sitting up just enough in bed that he could look around Tony spotted the gleaming metal of Bucky’s arm and the gun that he held at the ready in his hand.

“What’s going on Snowflake,” Tony said groggily as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Some kind of emergency? Jarvis why didn’t you wake me up if something was happening?”

“I’m sorry Sir,” Jarvis said through the speakers in the room. “Sergeant Barnes seemed distressed that you were in danger. I assured him that you were safe but he appeared to need to see that for himself.”

Tony looked right at Bucky who hadn’t moved from the doorway and gave a sad smile that was full of understanding. Nightmares were not uncommon among the Avengers. They all got them from time to time and they all had their own ways of dealing with them. Company and the comfort that came from being around others and knowing that nothing bad had really happened was one of the most common ways for all of them.

Taking hold of the edge of the blankets Tony pulled them back in a wordless invitation. Bucky didn’t hesitate and was across the room in seconds climbing into bed beside his lover. Tony made no move to try and pull away when Bucky grabbed hold of him and pulled him tightly against his chest, flesh and metal arms wrapped around Tony in a sheltering embrace, the gun still held securely in Bucky’s hand pointing outward against any threat that might try and take Tony away from him.

Tony just shushed the larger man running his hands up and down Bucky’s sides as he let himself be held close so that Bucky could feel his breathing and his heartbeat and know without a shadow of a doubt that Tony was alive and safe and that nothing was going to change that as long as the soldier was there.

It took almost half an hour of laying there together like that for Bucky to begin to relax. His arms slowly lost their vice like grip and the safety was returned to the gun as it was set aside underneath Bucky’s pillow as they each rested more comfortably on the bed still tangled up together.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Tony asked needing to make sure that his boyfriend was handling whatever he had seen in his dream all right.

Bucky closed his eyes and buried his face into Tony’s neck. “We were hunting Hydra and got separated in one of their bases and I couldn’t find you,” he murmured. “Woke up and just had to know that you were okay. I can go back down to my room if you want so you can get a good night’s sleep.”

Tony snorted in derision at that suggestion and settled himself down nearly on top of the other man.

“A good night’s sleep is overrated,” Tony said as he squirmed one of his legs between Bucky’s to keep them both locked together. “I’d much rather a comfortable body pillow like you. I sleep much better that way anyway.”

Bucky smiled at the clear invitation to stay right where he was. He loved how Tony was able to deal with his issues like they were no big obstacles at all. That made them feel all that much more manageable to Bucky and he couldn’t imagine his life without the genius. There was so much that Tony gave to Bucky in just the everyday little things that he did that made the soldier love him all the more.

That was part of the reason why the thought of losing Tony was so terrifying to Bucky. He wasn’t sure that he would be able to continue on without the other man. His world had come to revolve around the genius so quickly and as long as Tony would have him, Bucky intended to stay right in the spot that had been offered to him next to Tony. There was no better place that Bucky would rather be because there, all of his nightmares seemed to fade away.


End file.
